Local Complacency

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It is no secret that Tallahassee is, and has been for a very long time quite a charming community. From her canopy roads, magnolia trees, spanish moss, and antibellum homes Tallahassee has all of the charms that make for lovely postcards. Tallahassee's schools are top notch, parks are best in the nation, and neighborhoods in residential areas of the city safe and clean.

"Why should Tallahassee change? Things are perfect the way they are! We don't need to grow. I like our little small town".

The above are the comments I recieved from lifelong Tallahasseeans today at work as I expressed some excitement about the new High Rise Development at the corner of Tennessee and Monroe (BP Station). I was taken back at the backwards thinking of my co-workers. I knew they were much older than myself, but how can it be that we don't all want to see Tallahassee enhance herself.

Truth of the matter is many people in Tallahassee don't view the growth and development as positive progress. They feel threatened at the thought of sharing the roads with newcomers, or seeing property cleared to make way for a new building. To many people, undeveloped property is the ONLY beautiful property. Many who move to Tallahassee running from growth in larger cities wish to shut the door behind themselves, but is this fair?

Tallahassee can continue to grow and retain her charms!

Why should Tallahassee limit herself to the careless and selfish, to those who fight the inevitability of change, and to those who complain about weaknesses yet discourage acts to improve them? Although they are a smaller group now than ever before, as long as the complacent exist in Tallahassee, I'll be around to fight them off. Where were these complacent people when they destroyed the Capital Cascades with Rail Road tracks and tore down the Leon Hotel, and the Morgan? Where were these people when they decided to route I-10 north of the city instead of along the Gaines Street route (as was originally planned)?

It is evident that the norm for a small group of people in this community is to not care about anything... unless of course it impacts them personally. I'm ashamed of this segement of Tallahassee. We've been blessed with such a jewel that we should continue to polish until her luster shines brighter than any other. Why should I not care, because the complacent don't?

I love Tallahassee too much to leave her in the hands of those who don't care about her, which is why I'll be around for a very long time.

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TJ, I couldn't agree more. Though change is inevitable, it needn't be scary. I can't see why "locals" can't see that change can be for the better and allow growth but at the same time retain what makes Tallahassee a very special city from not only the rest of Florida but from the rest of the country.

Growth is going to happen no matter what and as long as our city leaders have the forsight to make growth benefit and not overwhelm our city, we are in for a great ride! On the same side Tallahasseans need to keep themselves informed of what is happening in our city. Most of this fear of change is because of the fear of the unknown. Keep yourself educated and aware and you have nothing to fear. It will also creat a sense of ownership and responsible for the city you live in.

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I think you hit it Alan! Those that are afraid are uninformed and act on their ignorance.

This is why I love this UrbanPlanet tool so much. It allows someone to get online and search out these different project and gain at least the little bit of insight we are able to share with them.

You're right, the more you know about whats going on, the more ownership you begin to take in these things. I'll probably never own a condo, but in my heart I feel like I have a steak in each of them. I think its the ownership that makes people proud of their city.

This is why I'm so hard on the local news, because they do a terrible job at informing us the way we should of local issues.

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It is no secret that Tallahassee is, and has been for a very long time quite a charming community. From her canopy roads, magnolia trees, spanish moss, and antibellum homes Tallahassee has all of the charms that make for lovely postcards. Tallahassee's schools are top notch, parks are best in the nation, and neighborhoods in residential areas of the city safe and clean.

"Why should Tallahassee change? Things are perfect the way they are! We don't need to grow. I like our little small town".

The above are the comments I recieved from lifelong Tallahasseeans today at work as I expressed some excitement about the new High Rise Development at the corner of Tennessee and Monroe (BP Station). I was taken back at the backwards thinking of my co-workers. I knew they were much older than myself, but how can it be that we don't all want to see Tallahassee enhance herself.

Truth of the matter is many people in Tallahassee don't view the growth and development as positive progress. They feel threatened at the thought of sharing the roads with newcomers, or seeing property cleared to make way for a new building. To many people, undeveloped property is the ONLY beautiful property. Many who move to Tallahassee running from growth in larger cities wish to shut the door behind themselves, but is this fair?

Tallahassee can continue to grow and retain her charms!

Why should Tallahassee limit herself to the careless and selfish, to those who fight the inevitability of change, and to those who complain about weaknesses yet discourage acts to improve them? Although they are a smaller group now than ever before, as long as the complacent exist in Tallahassee, I'll be around to fight them off. Where were these complacent people when they destroyed the Capital Cascades with Rail Road tracks and tore down the Leon Hotel, and the Morgan? Where were these people when they decided to route I-10 north of the city instead of along the Gaines Street route (as was originally planned)?

It is evident that the norm for a small group of people in this community is to not care about anything... unless of course it impacts them personally. I'm ashamed of this segement of Tallahassee. We've been blessed with such a jewel that we should continue to polish until her luster shines brighter than any other. Why should I not care, because the complacent don't?

I love Tallahassee too much to leave her in the hands of those who don't care about her, which is why I'll be around for a very long time.

Thanks for allowing me to vent.

That's what I'm talking about. I don't see what people's issue with growth is. Tallahassee isn't going to be small forever. If you ask me, we need every bit of growth we can get. The same people who compain about growth and change, are the same people who moan about why we can't generate any jobs outside the government realm.

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Once again you've hit it buddy! It was this very thing that drove me to another city for school. Its comforting to see the city doing so well despite these people who don't want to see it change, but as everyone has said, change is part of life. Tallahassee is far too smart of a community to allow ignorance to dominate. Good to know there are some people out there informed enough to appreciate the changes.

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I definitely see where you guys are coming from, and I think Tallahassee is undergoing some pretty neat changes, but it doesn't bother me that many people disagree. Change in and of itself is not always good, nor is staying the same. It all depends, and different people value different things. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't view those who want Tallahassee to remain much the way it is as not caring for their city. It may just be that they value different things in a city.

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Good point. But to me, it would be more uselful to the community if instead of just valuing someting about the community, these people work to boost what they love about our community so there is more of it to go around.

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I think "those" type people fear change. Heck they probably fear a lot of stuff I'd find silly. Bottom line growth is going to/is coming. You can hide your head in the sand and fight it tooth and nail and still lose to it or you can implement good zoning and planning laws and steer the growth in positive ways that are helpful to everyone while still preserving what makes us unique (trees,hills spanish moss.)

It's happening, get use to it or get out of the way.

Oh yeah and on this subject, I saw a car the other day traveling all the way down Blairstone with the "No Blairstone" sticker on it. I got a good chuckle out of that one.

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Oh yeah and on this subject, I saw a car the other day traveling all the way down Blairstone with the "No Blairstone" sticker on it. I got a good chuckle out of that one.

That just made me chuckle too... its just like the people who faught the Wal-Mart moving further up Thomasville Road... they sure love shopping there!! Or the people that used to complain about the fly-over... yeah, they're flying over these days! LOL!

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While I miss the (locally owned) business that used to be there, I'm all in favor of that development. Keep the development downtown. Amen. Praise the lord and pass the boiled peanuts. The building is higher than the 4 story optimum but it's going to keep people downtown. If there were a grocery store and some decent restaurents within walking distance, I might consier buying a unit there.